Persona 5: Freedom of life
by Persona 4 the win
Summary: Two years after the events of persona 4, Eighth grade student and persona user Eric Stone travels to Shico island to attend school and defeat the shadows. Featuring Persona 3 and 4 characters. Spoilers for both games
1. Chapter 1

**September 1****st**** 2013: Skies above Shico Island.**

Eric sighed. The plane was small, and they had been flying for nearly 20 hours. Of course, you didn't need a huge plane for two people, three if you counted the pilot.

Still, he at least wished he knew where he was going. He knew his destination of course, he wasn't stupid. He just didn't know where it in was on a map. The Shico Corporation was very protective of that secret, which was why the flight was taking so long. The pilot took so many detour's that nobody could keep track of where they were heading. It was rumoured they never took the same route twice.

He was heading to the island for school. The island consisted of a large school that housed all ages from kindergarten to college, and a city which was called of course, Shico. The school only allowed entry to certain people, mainly Shico employees and they're family, and only some of them at that. Maybe a seventh.

The Company, although only two or three years old is the world's largest supplier of shoe's, laptops, tooth paste and a dozen other things.

He shifted in his seat. _Why were we asked? _He wondered. His dad was only the manager of one store, but they still invited his family to send him, their only son, to a very prestigious school. Shico Academy had fine credentials, and its university was on the same scale as Harvard.

The pilot looked back through the open cockpit door and said,

"Hey, we're about to land. Fasten your seatbelt, and wake up the other guy please."

Eric nodded, and turned his attention to the other passenger. He was a brown haired youth that looked to be 19 or 20. They had chatted a bit earlier, and although the other boy spoke Japanese, he had switched to English once it was evident Eric wasn't able to understand him. It was rough and Eric corrected his grammar several time's, but that was understandable, as the boy, who introduced himself as Yosuke Hanamura, cited high school English class for his ability.

He had also said that he was returning for his first year of university, as he had attended the previous year for his last year of high school, when the line of malls his dad worked for, Junes was bought out by Shico. Shortly there after he was invited to attend Shico Academy. Eric shook his head and thought, "_Anyway, I better wake him." _ He said,

"Yosuke!" in what he thought was a loud enough voice to wake him, but he didn't stir. "Yosuke!" he was yelling know. Still no reaction. Eric got up and walked over to the other boy, bent down; lifted Yosuke's headphone's up and yelled into his ear.

Yosuke snapped awake, flailing his arms. He looked around to find the source of the noise, then spotted Eric and said

"Jeez, you scared the crap out of me. Sorry about that, the headphones are made to drown out noise. Anyway, what is it?"

"We're about to land." He replied.

"Alright. I can't wait to be back."

Twenty minutes later, Eric stepped off the lane and got his first glimpse of Shico Academy, which was right next to the runway.

"Holy …" He said out loud. This place was huge.

"_It must go on for miles!" _He thought. _"How the hell did they make this in a year?"_

Yosuke turned and looked at him, then smiled and said,

"Ha, I pretty much reacted the same way."

"How big is it?" Eric asked, still processing this amazing sight.

"I dunno, but it's got a different building for every grade, dorms for every grade and both genders, a sports complex, a theatre, a cultural center… you name it, they got it."

"That's amazing! But uh, what now?"

``You want to go to the main building, find the faculty office and register, and then they'll give you your room and class assignments. The faculty office is the first room on the left. ``

`` Alright, thanks. ``

`` No problem.`` Yosuke replied, then hurried toward his dorm.

(Authors note time! So how'd you like chapter 1? First thing's first, All copyrighted materiel such as Yosuke belongs to Atlus, not me. Also sorry if anything concerning the plane is wrong, I've never been in one. SO, I'm thinking of bringing one social link character from 3 or 4 back as a main character, so tell me who you think it should be! Also my computer isn't registering the quotation marks so please bear with me, it screwed up mid chapter so please bear with me and don`t forget to read and review. Thank you in advance.)


	2. Chapter 2

Entering the building, Eric was immediately met by a short staircase, about 5 or 6 steps, leading up to a hallway. He walked up the stairs, and when he reached the top, he looked around. On his left was, as advertised, the office. To his right was a pair of bathrooms, and when he turned left he saw that the hallway went on for about 70 feet, and then at the very end, there was a set of double doors. He walked forward, then turned and entered the office.

The office was about average size, and there was a digital clock on the wall which read 3:30. There was a desk in the middle of the room, and in the corners there were filing cabinets, bookshelves, potted plants; the usual stuff. There was also a door on the right hand side, adorned with a tiny plaque that read "ADMINISTRATION".

Seeing there was a small line of people leading up to the front desk, which was attended by a grey haired lady that looked to be 50 or 60, he decided now was an opportune time to relive himself of the burden of carrying all his bags. He gently put them down, but the line was moving quickly and in no time at all, he was at the front.

She smiled at him and said, "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I just got here. Uh… my name's Eric Stone." He replied. He was hoping he could deal with this quickly, then get to his dorm room and take a nap. He seriously needed to get some down time after the long flight. He had only been able to catch a few hours of sleep, as the flight had been a fairly rough one.

She typed a few characters into her computer, and then waited as it printed out a few sheets. She picked them up from the tray of the printer, then passed them to Eric and said,

"Alright then, here's your room assignment, class schedule, a sheet about the academy's rules, as well as a map to help you find your dorm. Oh, and here…" She rummaged around inside a box labelled "DORM KEYS" "is your key. Have a pleasant day."

"You too." He replied and nodded. He then picked up his bags, turned, walked out of the office and back out the front doors to the outside.

An hour later, at 4:30, he finally arrived at his room, after several mishaps including; Running straight into an emo girl with torn jeans, lot's of makeup and several cuts on her arms, getting knocked over by a guy in a bear suit and getting lost 4 times. Retrieving his key from his pocket, he dropped his bags again, then pushed the key inside the lock, and opened the door.

Looking inside, he saw that it was sizeable, with two single beds, each with a night stand, a large-ish T.V., a bookshelf, a sofa and chair set and a mini-fridge. There were also two desks, presumably for computers/studying, and there was a door that probably led to a bathroom.

Lying on one of the beds, reading a copy of _International Geology_ was a black boy about 5 foot 8. He had very close shaved hair cut, but he wasn't bald. His hair was very dark and he had blue eyes. Noticing Eric, he sat up and said," Well, I'm guessing you're my roommate? Little late, aren't you?"

Walking over to the other bed, Eric replied, "Better late then never. I'm Eric Stone." He said, laying down his bag. The other boy walked over to the mini-fridge and pulled out two cans of soda, asking

"Want a Tap?" Eric nodded, and the boy tossed one to him. Sitting back down on his bed, the boy arched an eyebrow and asked, "Eric Stone huh? What are you, some kind of action movie star? Anyway, I'm Robert Crane."

"Nice to meet you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sleep." Eric replied, closing his eyes.

"But it's only four thir…." Robert gave up mid sentence, realising Eric was already asleep. The exhausted boy had been awake almost twenty hours, and the realm of sleep welcomed him. He was soon dreaming, and he heard these fateful words.

"Welcome to the velvet room…"

(Authors note: Well, we sure are moving fast. Way faster then the persona games anyway. As always, please review, and I would also appreciate any others to be a beta reader for this fic. Thank you in advance.)


	3. Chapter 3

Eric opened his eyes. He was suddenly in what seemed to be a concert hall. It was completely a kind of purplely- blue; walls, carpets, seats, everything. The word "velvet" was certainly accurate; however, it wasn't exactly a room. He was standing at the back of the theatre, right in front of a pair of doors.

There was a carpet leading up to the stage, long and thin. He supposed it would have been a red carpet, if it, as well as everything else not been that velvet colour. There were seats on either side of the carpet, about 25 per row with about 15 rows.

Looking up, he noticed there were balconies up above, probably for VIPs' and other important and or lucky guest's. They were deserted though. The entire room was.

Well, not entirely. After all, he was there, and he noticed just then that there was a figure up on the stage, which appeared to be a short man. Hesitantly, Eric stepped towards him. The man didn't move, but rather appeared to be waiting for him.

Still a bit nervous, Eric continued onwards toward the stage. As he got closer, he noticed the man had gray/white hair, but only on the back and sides. He was wearing a suit, and he had a extremely long nose. He also had incredibly bloodshot eyes.

When he reached the stage, he realised there were no stairs. Grabbing the edge he began to hoist himself up. He was surprised when the man reached a hand down to him, but after a second, he took it and the man helped him clamber up onto the stage.

Once Eric was on the stage, the man motioned to a table and a set of 2 chairs, one on either side, which Eric had somehow failed to notice. They were ornately carved and although the wood itself was a polished brown, the table had a table cloth in the same velvety colour as everything else, while the chairs a plush back and seat of a colour which it would be pointless to repeat once again.

Taking this as a cue to sit down, Eric sat down. The seat was comfortable, although it would have been more so had Eric not been extremely confused.

The man sat on the other side, then looked at Eric expectantly.

Attempting to speak, Eric opened his mouth, but it was about ten seconds before he could find his voice. He said,

"Um… where am I? And who are you? Last thing I remember, I was about to fall asleep…"

The man replied, sounding almost amused, "Don't worry, you are asleep. This is but a dream. But a very important dream nonetheless. As I said, this is the velvet room. It is a realm which exists between consciousness and unconsciousness, reality and fantasy, thought and action."

"Ok, that answers two of my questions… I guess. But who are you?"

"Oh, I apologise. How rude of me. My name is Igor. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Igor extended his hand once again, and Eric shook it. For some reason, he had a strange feeling that this man, Igor, had immense power.

Igor spoke once again. "Do you happen to recall a particular time in your life, where you were suddenly surrounded by coffins where people should have been and neither your phone or your mp3, nor any other electronic worked?"

"I think… I don't remember too well. It's like a dream long after you've woken up, I can only remember bits and pieces. It's…" He shook his head. "It's hazy."

"And do you recall a day, in March two years ago where you felt like everyone one was much more honest?"

"That I remember much better. Honestly, no pun intended, it's been like that ever since."

"Those events are very closely related to two of the previous visitors of the velvet room, as are the events that will transpire in the next year of your life."

"A whole year!" Eric replied, slightly amazed.

"Give or take a few months, indeed. As well, I need to tell you that the fate of one of these boys, and the hopes and dreams of the whole world, rest on your shoulders."

"Me?" He replied, now completely amazed.

"Do not fear. You are not the only one. Along the way to your destiny, you will make many allies who will help you bear this burden. I also offer you my services, which are am sure will be extremely helpful."

"Your services?" He asked, wondering what Igor could do to help him.

"I will explain another time. Now, I am not the only resident of the Velvet room. I have an assistant, who will also give her utmost help to you. However, she is backstage at the moment, and I will introduce her to you next time. Until then farewell."

With that, Eric awoke.

( A/N: I hope I'm not being too cliché with the whole Eric being the important world saving one, but he is a main character in a persona "Game".

Once again, reviews are appreciated. Thank you in advance. Also, do you want chapters of this rate this often, or longer chapters less often?)


	4. Chapter 4

Eric opened his eyes once again, this time in reality. Groggily, he sat up and checked his watch. It was six fourteen. Due to the fact that he noticed Robert was asleep, it was probably morning. He got up, walked to the mini-fridge and got a Tap. He figured now was probably a good time to start unpacking,

First though, he decided to take a shower. He reached into his bag, pulled out a change of clothes, soap, shampoo and towels, then walked into the bathroom.

It was small, but it had a sink, toilet and shower, which was anyone really needed. Hanging above the sink was a mirror, and to the side there was a bar to hang towels on. The room was also predominantly white, but the floor was made up of a pattern of white and black tiles.

When he was finished, he took a look at himself in the mirror. He had blue hair; he had dyed it that way because he thought it looked cool. The amount of anime and manga he watched/read probably affected it too. It was fairly long, about three quarters of the way down his neck, and his bangs reached his eyes. He had blue eyes, which he had gotten from his mother. His father, two bothers and sister all had brown eyes. He wore glasses as well, with a rectangular shape with rounded edges. He face was unmarred by scars, but he figured it would have looked cool if he had one. He thought his ears were a little big though, and he had a pimple on his forehead, but it was hidden by his bangs. His teeth could have been a little whiter too.

He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, with a fairly dark wash. He had on a black hoodie with a zipper running up the front, and underneath that he had a white t-shirt with a red coil on the front.

When he left the bathroom, he noticed Robert had woken up. It seemed Robert was waiting to use the shower, because once Eric walked out, he walked right in.

Eric checked his watch again. It was six thirty seven. That gave him an hour to spend unpacking, as he still needed to go over the rules, his schedule and check his map to see where his classes were.

First though, he pulled out his Mpod (the M stood for music), and scrolled through his songs. He decided on this awesome one he had downloaded off of Mtunes, _"The battle for everyone's souls."_

An hour later, he surveyed his work. The brand new GameStation364 his parents had bought him, (his siblings still needed one), lay next to the TV.

Robert, it seemed, was good with electronics, as he had hooked both it and the laptop which lay on Eric's desk up, in less than fifteen minutes. In that same time span, he had dealt with the annoying setup which electronics needed to be able to access their functions, connecting it to the internet and whatnot.

Eric had also put some books and manga on the shelf, and placed an alarm clock and his charger for his Mpod on his nightstand. He had retrieved some cereal and a bowl from some cabinets mounted on the wall and some milk from the mini-fridge. Obviously Shico, knowing students wouldn't have time to purchase food yet, supplied enough for the first few days.

Eric had wolfed down 3 bowls before Robert cut him off, reminding him to save some for him. He hadn't eaten on the flight, and he only then realised how hungry he was.

He decided that he should go through the rules. Pulling it out of his pocket, he sat down on his bed and read it. It was pretty normal stuff like; No smoking on school grounds, no boys in the girl's dorms or girls in the boy's dorms after nine, curfew at eleven. But one rule in particular caught his attention. _No fighting except in training facilities. _

"_What's that supposed to mean?" _he thought. _"Maybe we have a martial arts or fencing club? Yeah, it's probably something like that. _He was about to check his schedule when Roberts said,

"Eric, c'mon. It's time to go. Grab your bag; I'm in your class, so I'll show you where to go." With that, Robert walked out the door. Eric leaned over, grabbed his book bag from the floor and then followed him.

(AN: Ok, so I'm uploading a chapter a day, or two pages in word, until someone tells me otherwise. Fun fact: I wrote the last chapter while hurricane Igor was howling outside. Seriously though, please review. I have 100 hits, but not a single review. Thank you in advance.)


	5. Chapter 5

The walk to class should have only taken about 10 minutes, but it took around 30 due to the large size of the campus, the fact that Robert and Eric were both new, and a crazy accident involving a skate boarder who tried to ride on top of a narrow wall ten feet off the ground.

When they finally reached homeroom they got some bad news. Their teacher, a blonde haired woman who looked to be about 30, whose name was Ms Pasten, told them that they missed homeroom, and to hurry to wood shop.

It took them another 5 minutes to get to wood shop, because they had to figure out what class room they where in. When they arrived, they were introduce themselves to the teacher, an Asian man named Mr. Noritsune, who looked to be about in his 40's, who briefly scolded them.

Before he took his seat, he took a quick look at his classmates. The class was a fairly equal mix of ethnicities, with African American, Hispanic, Asian and Caucasian students, but there were slightly more Caucasian students, probably because there were more of them than anything in most English speaking countries. After all, they were an English class. Students who spoke only one language were grouped in classes with other people in their grade level who only spoke that language.

He recognized one person though. The girl he had run into yesterday, the one with the torn black clothes and cuts on her arms. She was sitting bat a table by herself, and from the looks of things, the seats at her table were the only ones available, though it seemed she was alone by choice.

Robert and Eric looked at each other, then shrugged and made their way over to her table. She tried not to acknowledge them, as though she was hoping that if she ignored them they would go away.

Trying to make some form of communication, Eric said, "Uh… Hey."

He received no answer. Trying again, he said, "You know, I don't know if you remember, but I indo of knocked you over yesterday, so um… sorry about that." Still nothing. Making a final attempt, hoping humour would work; he said "Don't speak English huh?"

She finally looked at him and said in a British accent, "Would you please be quite or go away? Or both." Oddly enough, it didn't sound mean, she said it without bite or rancour, in a quite, resigned way.

Eric gave up, decided she sounded so depressed it was best not to bug her. He instead took a closer look at her.

Her hair was pitch black, with purple streaks running down along the back and bangs. Her expression was solemn, and hazel-green eyes looked heavy, both with exhaustion and sorrow. She was wearing a plain black t-shirt, and there were at least 3 cuts on each of her arms. She had a necklace on with a skull pendant, and she was wearing a pair of torn blue jeans.

"Alright," Mr. Noritsune announced as he looked up from his computer, finished checking his email or whatever the hell he was doing, "When I call your name, please raise your hand and say "Present"." He looked back at his computer, and then said, "Andrew Adams."

"Present"

"Megan Becken." The girl looked up, raised her hand slightly and said,

"Present." Then went silent again and stared down at her binder.

"_Megan, huh? _Eric thought. _"Well, at least we have a name and a face. Nothing else though."_

He doodled in his binder for the rest of the time attendance was being called, drawing cubes, lightening bolts, stickmen, whatever came to mind really. He raised his hand and said, "Present." when his name was called, just like everyone else.

When everyone was accounted for, Mr Noritsune looked up at the class, but then focused at their table and said, "Eric, Robert, wait here after class. We need to have a little chat about your issues with the rules." Eric groaned. He tied to reason with the teacher, saying, "It's not our fault! This place is huge, and we got lost. And besides, I got here after class was over yesterday, so I was following Robert!"

"Regardless, rules aren't made to be brok-"Mr. Noritsune was rudely interrupted by the northern wall of the room, which was next to the outside on the ground floor, being broken down which showered everyone beside himself and Eric, Robert and Megan with rubble, as they were on the other side of the room.

Leaping up, Eric looked through the clearing dust to find four… creatures staring back. They looked like the blobs of slime, except they were black and were wearing red masks. He desperately looked around for something to defend himself with, and he grabbed a hammer off a nearby shelf. He ran forward, getting ready for a fight against these monsters, and was followed by Megan, who had pulled a gun from her back pocket, and Robert, who had pulled out a tarot card from his sleeve.

(AN: Finally, some action. Now I'll reply to my reviewers.

Astrih Konnash: Thanks for your kind words, and for being my first reviewer!

Varianto A: What exactly do you mean by reference?

Please read and review. Thank you in advance.)


	6. Chapter 6

(AN: Ok, I know I usually post these at the end of the chapter, but since this chapter is going to be the first real fight scene, I wanted to tell you guys to put on some fight-sceney music. Do that, and then read the chapter.)

Eric rushed up toward the monsters, but his path was blocked by a table. He kept running, and then put one hand on the table to balance himself as he vaulted over it. He was landed on his feet, and he tensed up, trying to stay on guard. He was now standing about a meter away from the monster, who where about a meter long. Megan was to his left, gun pointed at her head, while Robert flanked the beasts to the right. The monster only had one way to go, which was back outside. _"Or through us." _Eric reminded himself

"Megan now's really not the right time for that. Not that there's ever a good time for suicide, but this is one of the worst possible times." Eric said. _"Why does she have a gun anyway? Never mind now's not the time for logic."_

She ignored him. Closing her eyes, she pulled the trigger on the sleek silver pistol. An intense, searing pain shot through her head, but she suffered no actual injuries, as the gun fired no bullets. Instead, what appeared to be a tiny brown doll, with neither hands nor feet, a large cylindrical head, and somehow holding a boomerang appeared in the air? It threw the boomerang at the creature furthest to the left, which exploded into a large number of dark pieces behind, which soon disappeared. The boomerang returned to the doll's hand, and it to disappeared.

Megan meanwhile, collapsed. The shot to the head seemed to have taken a lot out of her. One of the monsters, presumably realising the chance it had, lunged toward her, but Eric threw the hammer as hard as he could at it, striking it with the head of the hammer. The Creature disappeared like its brethren, but unlike the doll's boomerang, the hammer didn't return to Eric's hand. On the bright side, Eric didn't disappear like the doll.

While he was distracted helping Megan, the one of the other …things had crept forward, and it struck Eric on his right forearm with its claws. The blow left five cuts, about an inch long each and although they weren't terribly deep, they stung like hell.

"Shit!" Eric cried, as they monster reared up to strike again. But suddenly a Pistol, much like Megan's and a tarot card bearing a picture of a Viking wearing golden armour, bearing a stone hammer outline with electricity, appeared in his hands. He didn't think, he reacted. Instinctively, he threw the card up into the air with his right hand, and then shot it with the pistol in his left. Like Megan's gun, it fired no bullet, but the card shattered and disappeared "Per-sona." He whispered, as the Viking on the card appeared and struck the attacker with its mighty hammer. He didn't know how he knew to call it that, but regardless, he knew that was the proper thing to say. No matter, the monster disappeared, as did the Viking, which from what Eric could remember about mythology, was most likely Thor, god of thunder from Germanic mythology.

Robert meanwhile, had been trying to extract a dagger from the inside of his sweater this whole time, which was about a minute, finally pulled it out. He threw the card into the air, and then rammed the knife straight up, piercing the card. A male figure wearing a golden mask, and armour, with silver gauntlets, brown boots topped off with a red kilt and sword appeared and followed the motion, thrusting his sword at the sky. A bolt of lighting appeared just above the final enemy, and then struck it, destroying the monster and ending the battle.

Holding his arm and tucking the pistol into his pocket, Eric turned to Megan, when he was struck with a sudden vision. In his mind, pictures of three cards appeared. Two were blank, and one had a picture of a red haired lady with wings and a leotard. The cards suddenly flipped over and started spinning, but not very quickly. Curious, he imagined a hand flipping over one of the cards, which turned out to be the lady. The vision ended and his pockets felt a little heavier. He reached his hand into the pocket and pulled out two cards, both Thor and the lady.

When he snapped out of his little funk, he notice Robert was leaning over Meagan, who was lying on the floor, breathing heavily. Looking at them he said, "What the hell just happened?"

Robert straightened up, turned around and looked at him. He replied, "Those monsters; they're called shadows."

(AN: That's it for this chapter, what do you think? Anyway the persona's are Mokoi=Megan, Thor=Eric, Titan=Robert, and the card is pixie. Please keep reading, as well as review. Thank you in advance.)


	7. Chapter 7

"Shadows? It's definitely accurate but… Those things look like monsters from some sort of video game! Anyway, how's she holding up?" Eric replied, taking things a lot better than most people would have. He just kind of stood there, looking at Megan and putting pressure on his arm.

"I'm okay… I'll be fine in a second…" Megan answered, still panting. She made a move to get up, but faltered and lied back down. Eric noticed that the others students were getting back up or emerging from under the desks.

Eric didn't notice as one girl, an Asian whose name he hadn't caught approached them, and he was still unaware when she pulled out a tarot card and summoned her persona. All of a sudden, he felt a weird tingling in his arm, and when he looked, his wounds were gone! Turning around, he realised what had happened and smiled. "Thanks."

She smiled back and replied, "Anytime." She turned around and hurried back to her friends, who were picking the rubble from the wall out of their hair. However, he was soon brought back to reality as he noticed Mr. Noritsune rushing towards them.

"Are you all OK?" He asked worriedly. They all nodded, although Megan still looked exhausted. "We should get the nurse to take a look at you three. I suppose we should dismiss class so we can get that fixed." He gestured toward the wall.

Megan spoke up, saying "No, its fine. We'll just go to the nurse ourselves…" She faded off, trying to stand. Eric and Robert bent down toward her, then grabbed her arms and hoisted her up. She was so tired she didn't even resist. They arranged it so she was leaning on their shoulders, so she could limp exhaustedly to the nurse.

"We'll be back soon" Eric said looking back, towards the teacher as they left the room. He turned around and closed the door, when a thought struck him. "Uh, Robert?" He said hesitantly.

"Yeah, what is it?" Robert replied, adjusting Megan's arm so it was more comfortable to walk. "Where the bloody hell is the Nurse's office?" Eric questioned. Robert stopped, almost causing them to fall over. "That's easy, it's uh… Huh." He said sheepishly.

"It's not exactly an office." Megan cut in. "We have a medicinal building that functions as a hospital as well as the rooms for medical students. Let's go, I'll give you the directions." She made a small movement with her hand to show them the general direction of their destination, as the left he building into a bright, sunny plaza.

A while later, they walked into a small room inside the medical building, just large enough to contain a few chairs, an examination table and a small desk. Inside, Eric recognized the receptionist from yesterday, who seemed to be the Nurse. She didn't seem to notice them. She turned around, and stumbled back in surprise. She caught herself at the last moment, then straightened up and said "Sorry, I didn't notice you there. What's the problem?"

Robert answered first, saying "Shadows. They've been dealt with, but Mr. Noritsune wants us to get checked out, see if there's any more damage."

"Shadows! In the middle of the school day? Well, it's a miracle nobody else was hurt. You don't seem to be dying though, so this shouldn't be too long. Now, if you would kindly sit down on the examination table…" She said, motioning towards Eric. He quickly hoisted himself up, as she busied herself with preparing to take his blood pressure. A short while later, the intercom on the wall instructed the nurse to go answer the phone in her office, just as Robert finished his own examination.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere while I'm gone, alright?" She said with a smile, as she turned and hurried into the adjacent room.

"What do you think that's about?" Eric asked. Realising this was the first chance he had to ask, he added, "And what the hell are those things? Their name alone doesn't explain a lot, you know."

"I'm not really sure myself, something to do with negative emotion, repressed sides, that kind of shit. And I'm sure the intercom call has nothing to do with us." Robert replied. Meanwhile, Eric's head was spinning. "_Negative emotions, repressed sides? What the hell? What is this, some cheesy anime? Ahhh, I'll figure this out later. Or hopefully someone will explain it to me." _He was torn away from his thought when Megan spoke up, because she had been rather quiet.

"Um, Eric? I'm… I'm sorry, I acted meanly to you for no good reason, and then you threw away your only defence against the shadows to help me… Can you forgive me?" She said, blushing. Eric got the impression she didn't say sorry very often, so he figured she was being very sincere.

"There's no reason to say sorry. I'm sure you had your reasons. Besides, you fought very well too." He replied. She laughed and said, "Me? But I nearly fainted! You did well too though Robert." The other boy smiled when she said this, and Eric began to smile. He thought to himself that he had already made two friends…

Suddenly everything froze. A card with a picture of a man walking, carrying a stick with a bag tied to it with a dog at his heels appeared in his head. As well an ominous voice spoke into his head, saying,

"_Thou art I… and I am thou…. _

_Thou hast established a new bond._

_It brings thee closer to breaking the seal. _

_Thou__ shalt be blessed when creating_

_Personas of the Fool Arcana…_

_You have formed the Shadow Slayers Social Link of the Fool arcana!_

Time resumed, and Eric thought, _"What the hell?"_ Again. And again, he was ripped from his thoughts as somebody spoke. However, this time it was the Nurse who stated, "Alright then, I'm back. That was from the SSS. You're free from classes for the day. You're to report to the Third floor of the Main building. It seems like Eric there has some people to meet…"

( DUN. DUN. DUNNNNNNNNNNNNN. I'm back. I'm sorry I took so long. This is a Christmas gift. Have a merry one. I'll try to give a better explanation next chapter, but I'm tired. It's late. I'll also try to post again this year. Please read and review. Bye.)


	8. Chapter 8

(AN: Hi guys, this is a start to yet another chapter, within a reasonable timeframe. Sorry If I don't get too many done though, I'm currently distracted by Devil survivor, Black ops, Assassin's Creed, Mirror's edge and minecraft. As always, please Review. I always enjoy seeing them. Also, we get our first bit of real humour in this chapter. BTW this fic acts as though both the answer and Chidori's revival are canon, so I uses some of Junpei's lines in the answer would be different, but it isn't quite AU. If your wondering why Mitsuru is using Junpei's first name, she's gotten a bit closer to the members of SEES and does so for all of them. You'll notice I only mentioned the difference in looks for only a few characters; this is because I feel how they appear is best left to your imagination. Rest assured they look different though.)

"Seriously? No classes all day? Sick!" Eric said as he pumped his fist into the air. Megan rolled her eyes and replied,

"Really, of all the stuff that she just said, that's what you focus on?" in a deadpan, snarky tone. She stood up from the wooden chair she had been sitting in, and turned to Robert. "Of course, given how calm you are, I bet it could start raining narwhals and you would just shrug it off. Anyway, shall we be off?" She remarked, still talking to Eric despite being halfway out the door. She had, he thought, regained her composure very quickly. He thanked and said goodbye to the nurse, who smiled pleasantly.

He followed her out the door leaving Robert alone with the nurse. He threw her a hasty salute and followed the duo out the door, with one burning desire in his heart. He was full of determination. He could not be stopped: He would find out what the bloody hell a narwhal is.

Unless of course, the two refused to tell him, which they naturally did. It was only after the half an hour walk to the main building and up the stairs to the second floor that they told him it was a type of purple fruit that only grew in Switzerland, Iceland, and the east cost of Canada, (Which it naturally wasn't). Eric was just beginning to explain the various health benefits of the narwhal fruit when something caught his eye. Something glorious.

A vending machine. His mouth began to water. His throat was suddenly as parched as someone who had just run two marathons. In the Sahara desert. But did they have it? The only drink that would refresh him. He ran to the machine, searching the buttons. Yes. There it was, FOUNTAIN DEW. He had just inserted the change necessary as payment and pressed the button when Megan, dragged him away, reminding him that they had more important business at hand. As he struggled valiantly against her iron grip, he could hear the clatter of the can hitting the floor of the machine.

As they reached the top of the stairs, they were awestruck by the sign of a huge, ornately carved door; it was about 12 feet high, and made of gold. Just above it was a picture of a blue haired, who judging by the plaque under the photo which read,

MINATO ARISATO MEMORIAL ROOM

1992- 2010

Your sacrifice shall not be in vain.

happened to be dead. However, contrary to the above plaque, another sign, this one just laminated paper, simply taped to the door, read "_SSS Meeting and command room"_

"Hey Eric?" Robert asked. Eric looked at him.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"Do you think this is real gold?"

"I don't know, that'd be pretty expensive…" He said uncertainly, and then added, "Of course, everything about this place seems expensive." Suddenly, a voice came from inside saying, "You can come in already, you know!" The voice sounded like a young male.

Eric, Robert and Megan exchanged glances, and then slowly pushed open the door. The room inside was large and spacious, with Computer consoles, large machines and bookshelves lining the walls on all sides, with only the occasional window in-between. There were many small tables all around the room perhaps for five or six persons each, Oddly enough; there was also a pinball table off in one corner.

Finally, in the middle there was a long wooden table that looked like it could fit fifty people, though only five were currently seated. A Red haired woman who looked to be in her early twenties, and very beautiful, A Man with short hair, a goatee, and a red Shico baseball hat worn backwards who seemed to be both her age and the person who had just spoke. There were three younger looking persons also seated at the table, Yosuke, to Eric's surprise, was one of them. The other two were a silver haired man and a girl with long black hair in a pony tail. There was also inexplicably a large white dog, seated at the red haired woman's feet

"Well come on, sit down already." The man with the hat said impatiently, and Eric and Megan cautiously took a seat, while Robert did so more confidently. The redheaded lady reprimanded him (The man in the hat) saying,

"Be a little more patient Junpei." She sounded tired of the phrase, as though she said it often. "You would be Stone, Crane, and Beckan, _Oui?" _ Eric wondered if she actually knew any French beyond the usual _"Oui, Bien, Bonjour" _stuff. He himself knew enough to carry on a short conversation, having participated for 2 years at the French immersion program at his school. Either way, Eric nodded.

The lady smiled. "_Bien._ Now, Mr. Noritsune has explained to us what has occurred. That was quite brave of you, rushing up there like that. Of course, it was also quite stupid and reckless. If your Persona hadn't awakened when it did, well, I doubt you'd be standing here with us. Now, if your feeling up to it, could you please summon your persona again? I'd like to see what it looks like." She clasped her hands on her knee, waiting patiently.

Thinking back to the card that had appeared after the battle, he replied "Which one?"

He noticed a quick flash of surprise in her eyes, but her smile just grew a bit larger.

"You have more then one then?" In response, he pulled out the cards and held them up. Speaking again, the woman said "Seta, take a closer- Oh, pardon me, I forgot to introduce us. My name is Kirijo Mitsuru- Mitsuru Kirijo in English speaking countries, and my impatient compatriot is Iori Junpei. I believe you've met Hanamura Yosuke, and the lady with the black hair is Amagi Yukiko. Seta Souji is the one with the silver hair."

Upon hearing his name, Junpei stood and took a large exaggerated bow, causing a small grin from Yosuke and Souji. Yukiko however, promptly began to try and stop herself from bursting out laughing. Mitsuru shot Junpei a look that seemed polite enough, but he knew it meant "Calm down and stop acting like that or face death." He sat down, and Eric passed Souji the card.

"Hmm… Looks like Pixie, and… Thor? Have you summoned them both?" He asked. Eric shook his head no and Souji passed him the cards. "Alright, go for it." The older boy said.

Eric grinned, then in one fluid motion; he threw the card bearing "Pixie" in the air, quickly drew the evoker and fired. For but a second he felt raw, pure power surging through him, filling him with energy. The fairy appeared, winked, and then disappeared, as Eric had not been trying to use any ability. Suddenly, the power was gone, and Eric had a slight head ache. He brought his hand up to his temple and rubbed it.

"I see your feeling the effects. See, persona's abilities are split into two types. Magic types, like healing people or conjuring lighting, affect your ability to concentrate and your emotional stableness. Don't worry, should you reach your breaking point, you should still be able to hit things and dodge shadows attacks. Meanwhile, physical skills where your persona hits, stabs or slashes your enemies, affect you ability to stay conscious and resist pain. Therefore, it's best if you don't push yourself to hard, and try to only use effective attacks." Yukiko chimed in. Yosuke turned to her and said,

"Wait a second here, we still haven't even asked them to join us yet." He turned back to Eric. "Basically, we are the SSS or Shadow slaying squad. Junpei and I chose the name. Our objective is to defeat all shadows. Don't worry; it's not as tough as it sounds. There used to be one for every body, but now there's a lot less. Since you have the ability to summon one, as well as the ability to summon multiple, or the wild card, we'd like you to join us. The same goes for you Megan. Robert here joined us yesterday." He grinned. "So, Whadda ya say?" Eric looked over to Robert, amazed he had already signed up. The black boy shrugged sheepishly.

"Go for it. It's better then what I got. They made me fight the dog." He advised. Junpei laughed.

"Yeah, and Koromaru here kicked his ass, without even trying." He scratched the fuzzy dog, who barked happily. Eric turned back to Yosuke.

" So, when do I start?"


	9. Chapter 9 part 1: exposition

(AN: Not really much to say, I decided to skip to after they had explained their adventures and how personas/combat worked. Just go to the shin megami tensei wiki if you don't know the plot. As well, Megan also decided to join the SSS. BTW this chapter's intro has mega ultra spoilers for the ending of P4. Once again, please review. I'd like to have more than five before chapter twelve, if it's possible.

Review responses:

Blazehawkins: Thanks for your kind words, and yeah, I am kind of forcing the plot, once I get through all the exposition I'll slow down with some humorous filler here and there.)

"… and that's how we defeated Izanami and lifted the lies from the people of the world. Souji allowed himself a small grin, thinking of how awesome that made him seem. He had skipped over what had happened while he dead/unconscious, not because he didn't want to admit he needed help or anything, but because he had never told anyone about before. _What if they thought he was just using them to get power?_ He had thought to himself many a time. Although the persona enhancements were certainly a bonus, he deeply cared about every single one of them. He decided he would privately tell Eric later though, as he deeply suspected, the younger bearer of the wild card most likely needed to form them himself, and it was an excellent example of how useful they were.

He was woken from his thoughts when Robert posed a question. "Then why are there still shadows?" He replied with a simple "We don't know."

"Any ideas?"

"It could be that some people formed new hidden, repressed sides or that they once again succumbed to hate and anger. Or it could just be that some people hadn't really been trying to repress the sides or didn't notice they were there, so they weren't lying, only ignorant, therefore being passed over in the lifting of the lies from humanity_._" That came from Yukiko

"But how can you just not notice a part of yourself?" Eric spoke up.

"People can be pretty stupid. Sometimes they see only what they what to see, and not what's really there." Yosuke said with a sigh. He knew how they thought; he had been just like them until that fateful year. Not that he had realised that flaw, it was hard not to criticise other people for it.

Eric had one more question.

"How did you all end up here?" It seemed weird to him that everyone at the school had a persona when most other people didn't. Junpei took care of that one,

"Whoever owns Shico somehow finds us persona users and then offers us a scholar ship or a job in the city. Or they buy out our family businesses. They send us here, and explain the situation when we arrive. They ask us to join the SSS, but so far everyone besides us, you guys and the rest of our old groups has turned em down. They still attend, and they're taught how to use personas for their own safety." Eric wondered how the hell the chairmen or C.E.O or whatever of the company managed to track them down or afford the school/city.

Megan meanwhile had noticed a flaw in their plan. "How are we going to get rid of them all if we're stuck here?" She pointed out. _What, are they going to send us out all over the world?_ She thought. That would be very irresponsible, not to mention dangerous.

"The scientists working for Shico have managed to find a way to draw them here. They're drawn to the same thing that makes them, negative emotions, hidden sides. Probably cause once you get enough little shadows, they sometimes merge into a big one, and the more shadows around, the stronger the big one. And where could you find more of those then a city full of teens that are know about these sides and feelings? After all, they're gonna spend a lot of time being emo about it." Junpei replied. If any of them were like him, they'd react in 3, 2, and 1- bingo. Megan, Eric and Robert had just realised they and their peers were pretty much bait, and they were not happy?

"—at a huge risk here," Eric.

"Someone could die!" Megan.

" This is… there is no word for this!" Robert. Mitsuru stood up and raised her voice sharply, saying "Please, calm down! I understand your concern, but there are precautions in place. We will inform all students at the next assembly in a few days, and all who wish to return home may. We will train all students on how to deal with shadows. As well, it seems that shadows only go after viable threats, as they only have before gone as far as knocking someone unconscious before focusing on another target. Not to mention the fact that one of the members of the SSS is on emergency call at all times."

"… Alright. But if one person who isn't is the SSS dies, I'm out. We understand the risks, we joined. But these guys…" Eric said shaking his head.

(Ok, this is really only half a chapter. I realised it'll be awhile before I'm done, so I'll just give you this bit now. It's a good enough cut off point, and I'm gonna be busy with school as I just got back from Christmas vacation. Please review. Peace out…)


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